Pairing: Ace/Marco
Notes: Written for Day 3 of MarcoAce week 2015. The prompt was Flowers and topiaries definitely count! Thank you to lunarshores for betaing, and I hope you all enjoy!
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The manor house (or castle, it might as be called what it actually was, but apparently they weren't allowed to call it a castle so manor it had to be) sat at one end of the village. Its sprawling driveway took almost five minutes to drive down – and no, Ace really wasn't joking when he told people that. It was a massive estate, utterly gorgeous and full of everything you'd expect of a pretentious old estate, and it was perfect.
Ace had worked on the grounds for years. He'd been in charge of the maze when he'd first started, keeping the hedges to the right length. Too long and a hoard came complaining, too short and the kids screaming they could see each other caused every member of staff a headache. Ace was good at his job, the maze had flourished, and he'd been promoted to maintaining the grounds.
He wasn't the only one, oh no, but his section didn't overlap with the others, and he'd never actually met any of the team. Well, apart from his supervisor, but Whitebeard didn't really count. His idea of a staff meeting was a one-on-one, complete with an endless amount of tea and biscuits. And, when the weather was a little colder, Whitebeard would always wink, slip a generous amount of whatever he had in his hip flask into their mugs, and Ace would feel the chill slip away just a little.
So, it was a surprise when Whitebeard handed him a thick A4 envelope with his tea one morning, sitting down with a sigh and shaking his head.
"We're to host some fancy party in the summer," Whitebeard said, and Ace looked down at the envelope. His name was written neatly at the top, in a hand that Ace knew was nothing like Whitebeard's untidy, sprawling handwriting, and he wondered who had dished out the assignments.
"Is this my assignment?" Ace said, almost too scared to look. Whitebeard looked grim, and Ace knew then that he was aware of what Ace was going to do. Ace only hoped he wasn't to be reassigned to some other section, and pulled out the papers slowly, shoulder slumping in relief.
"They want topiaries back do they," he commented, and that was fine. A lot of work perhaps, but it was still plants. It was something Ace loved to do, and he could do it.
"You'll have to hash out the details with your partner," Whitebeard said, and Ace looked up sharply. He had to work with someone else?
"Partner," he said, and Whitebeard nodded.
"You'll get on well," he said, and Ace sighed. Usually when someone told him that, he didn't get on with them at all. "I know you don't like working with people, Ace," Whitebeard added, and Ace sighed.
He couldn't deny it. Ace hated working with other people. He'd run a few off in previous jobs he'd had. He didn't even have a proper reason for not liking it, he just loathed working with others.
"Marco's different though." Whitebeard paused. "Well, he's just like anyone else, really, but he's a nice guy. Give him a chance."
Ace set the papers down on the table and crossed his arms over his chest. He worked best alone – unless he was with Sabo or Luffy of course, but he'd known them since they were tiny, and they knew him – and while he would put up with this partner, Ace knew he'd be glad to see the end of summer and this fancy party.
"So we're basically just sorting out the hedges on the driveway," Ace said, picking up the papers again with a sigh. "They want topiaries the entire way down, do they?"
It was a bit ridiculous, if you asked Ace, and he was sure it wouldn't look that great in the end, but whatever the event planners wanted, the event planners got.
"They do," Whitebeard said, and he sighed, bringing out the hip flask and topping their drinks off. "They've been a right pain in the backside, if I'm honest. They want everything done their way, and I don't particularly care anymore."
Ace smiled, though it came out more as a grimace.
"Hedges grow back," he said instead, and Whitebeard raised his mug, tapping it against Ace's with a grin.
"They do indeed son," he said, and Ace beamed, warmth spreading through him that had nothing to do with the alcohol. "Now, tell me about those gulls that have moved in. Vista was saying something about them dive-bombing him…"
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It was the middle of January when Ace met his new partner. Apparently the event coordinators didn't have a very good grip of time, and were determined to get the topiaries done as soon as they could. Which meant excessive maintenance of them as the evergreen hedges grew out, but everyone seemed to be doing things they didn't really want to. They were getting paid a lot of money for this event, though, and no one was complaining about that, so if Ace and his partner had to keep up the hedges for months, that was what they'd do.
It was cold out, and Ace's hand warmers weren't quite staving off the cold. Whitebeard had told him to meet his partner in one of the greenhouses, but it wasn't much warmer in there, and Ace sighed, watching his breath fog outwards.
"I don't even want a stupid partner," he mumbled, looking around at the sound of the greenhouse door opening.
"It's fucking cold," the man said. A bright blue woollen hat was shoved down to his eyebrows, his nose was a bright red, and he looked about as miserable as Ace felt. He wore thick mittens, a huge coat, and… what looked to be snow boots.
"Isn't that a bit too much?" Ace couldn't help but ask, and the man narrowed his eyes.
"I don't like being cold," he grumbled, and Ace looked down at the ground with a sigh. He had wanted to try this time, he really had. It seemed Ace was just cursed to be a rude shit to anyone he met.
"Shall we just get this over and done with then?" Ace said, and the man sighed, looking as if he wanted to be anywhere else but here. "The sooner we get started the sooner we can finish."
There was a table in the greenhouse, and plans already lay over the surface. They'd been emailing each other for a while now and come up with the bulk of the designs for the topiaries. Well. They'd altered the designs given to them so that they could actually fashion hedges into the complicated designs, but that was close enough.
"We can do one side each, or one starts at the bottom and the other the top," the man said, and Ace shrugged.
"Whatever's easiest," he said, and the man ran a hand over his eyes.
"I'm going to go out and come back in, and we can start this all over again," he said, and before Ace could do anything, the man stomped out. Ace stared after him, frozen in place, until there was a knock on the door and a woollen-hat-covered-head poked back in.
"Hi, I'm Marco. We've been assigned to work together, and I'm looking forward to it." Marco entered, scraping his boots on the concrete floor, and Ace blinked slowly.
"I'm Ace," he said, a little unsure. And maybe Marco had been onto something when he'd restarted their meeting, as Ace found himself smiling slightly. "I'm looking forward to working with you too," he added, and it wasn't as forced out as he had thought it would be. Maybe – and it was a really big maybe – Ace had just been working with the wrong people up until now.
"We'll be working on this for a long time," Marco said, and Ace hummed in agreement. "Do you prefer company when you work?"
Ace looked at Marco. He had a few wrinkles around his eyes and dark circles, but he looked happy and healthy. He was older than Ace, that was certain, and he shivered as he looked back at Ace. He looked friendly, nice, and pretty attractive if Ace were honest.
Oh god. No. Ace couldn't start fancying his co-workers. That kind of thing led to bad things, and Ace needed this job. He loved this job, and he wasn't about to lose it because he couldn't keep his cock in his trousers. Not that Marco was attracted to him back, but still. Ace resisted the urge to groan, nodding instead.
"Company's nice," he offered, and Marco seemed satisfied, though his gaze lingered a little.
"We'll take a side each then," he said, and Ace nodded to that. They spent the next half an hour pouring over the designs, making sure they were familiar with them, and then it was time to go.
"It's a dance," Ace said, and he wondered how he'd never seen it before. The hedges started with basic blocks and shapes, before they morphed into an elaborate dance between two birds – grebes if Ace was correct. It was a courtship dance, one of uttermost synchronisation, and he smiled at Marco.
"It's beautiful," Marco said, and he folded up the papers, tucking them inside his jacket with effort, considering the layers he was wearing. "Shall we?"
They walked out to the driveway, and it was a trek they faced before they could get to work. Hedges lined the entire driveway and they first had to sort them out into reasonable sections, cut away what they didn't need and then get to the actual designs. Luckily the topiaries were planned to start about halfway down the drive, so this was just a bit of maintenance work.
As they worked, they filled the space between them with chatter, snipping and pruning away to the sound of laughter. Marco even shrugged off one of his jackets, and Ace looked at him fondly, noting thick muscle even underneath his layers. Marco did a lot of heavy lifting then, Ace thought, and turned back to his shrubbery with an odd smile.
The days became weeks and their topiaries began to take full flight, so to speak. The mating dance of grebes was laid out, and every time they saw a member of staff, they would comment how amazing the topiaries were. Ace would simply look at Marco and nod, though he felt a little as if he was going through his own strange dance.
Marco was fit. Ace could acknowledge that very happily, especially as winter gave way to spring and Marco abandoned all woolly clothing and stuck to thin jumpers that were (apparently) made of amazing heat trapping fabric. All they did was show off Marco's pectorals, and yes, Ace did appreciate the view (there had even been a few days when nipples had been visible through the fabric, and Ace had almost chopped his bird's head off then), but it was just an appreciation.
Or so he told himself.
"Have you ever seen their mating dance?" Marco asked during their lunch, waving his sandwich in Ace's face. "I'll get the video up now if you like."
Ace had seen it before, it had been one of the first things he'd done when seeing what the project would be, but he shook his head. Marco was already pulling his phone from his pocket, and they'd have to squish together a little bit to see the screen so, well, who was Ace to stop him.
The grebes were beautiful, and when the video was finished, Ace looked around at the topiaries. They would never be able to capture the full elegance and beauty of the dance, but they were doing a good job if he did say so himself.
"So," Marco said, and Ace was suddenly aware they were very close. "Would it be inappropriate if I asked you on a date?"
Ace turned to him slowly, stomach clenching. Was this a joke? Marco couldn't be being serious, could he?
"I like you," he said, and looked away from Ace. "I didn't think we'd get along, but I thought you might feel the same and-"
"Do the dance with me," Ace said, and Marco looked at him sharply. There was sheer panic written on his face, and Ace burst into laughter. "Your face!" he said, and Marco sighed, tucking his phone away, smiling.
"I'm joking of course," Ace muttered, making a show of wiping non-existent tears from his eyes. "But I'd love to."
Marco didn't react for a moment, but when he finally caught up with what Ace said, he beamed.
"I'm free tonight," Ace said helpfully, and Marco stood up, offering a hand. Ace took it, and he lingered on the touch, not feeling guilty this time for doing so. "Well, if my partner ever finishes up his work. He's such a slacker you know," Ace said, and he looked into Marco's eyes, sliding a hand around his waist and pulling him close.
"Those slackers," Marco murmured, pressing against Ace and kissing him gently. Ace met him full on, and they kissed slowly, weak sunlight warming their skin. The path smelt of cut leaves and fragrant flowers, and when they parted, Ace simply wanted to dive right back in.
"We're never going to get any work done now," Ace said, and Marco laughed as he pulled away, heading back to his grebes.
At least, Ace thought as Marco bent over to fetch his tools, the view was exceedingly good, no matter the weather.
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